1916 Irish Pub — Restaurant in Plant City

1916 Irish Pub 2309 W. Thonotosassa Rd., Plant City, FL 33563

2.5 Stars (local chain review)

This local chain (three locations) is owned and operated by the partnership of Chuck Jamieson and Duke Mendel. They are relatively new to the food scene and as such, have accomplished a great deal with three locations. Kudos to them.

Tabby is the bartender/server today and if she spent just a bit more time with the paying customers instead of flirting with a dude in a yellow neon worker vest, she would have been great at her job. As it was? Meh. From what I could tell there are basically two seating options here. You either sit at the bar or at a giant tables.

Looking around, I could see this location was filled with grotesque misanthropes during the lunch hour. If I didn't have to stop here, I most likely wouldn't. It reminded me of a place haunted by the Sawyer family of TCM history... I did manage to lure Tabby away from her paramour to place an order for one Rebel's Reuben with a side of Pesto Parmesan Fries. Themed after the 1916 Easter Uprising in Ireland, I found the décor to be both interesting and educational. I was caught groaking at it when Tabby returned with my grub (see pics). I snapped a few pics and got to work.

I turned my persnickety palate to The Rebel's Reuben first. I love a good sandwich. They can range from the simple to the complex with a plethora of flavor options. This was your typical Reuben with corned beef, German sauerkraut, melted Swiss and homemade 1,000 Island dressing on marbled rye. It wasn't bottom-of-the-barrel quality, but it wasn't top-tier either. This was sub-par and certainly not going to win any awards. The one stand-out was the homemade 1,000 Island. This was poppin' with character. If the rest of the sandwich lived up to this, it would be 4 Stars for sure.

Turning my taste buds to the Parmesan Fries, I grabbed a few and stuffed them in my empty maw. The fries were bottom-of-the-bucket, frozen junk fries. They were cooked properly, but they were flavorless. Quality fries can't cost all that much more than those from the dregs of the food service industry. Step it up, Gentlemen!

The Big Boy says, “This is an easy skip, especially...

I had a terrible experience here with a bartender/manager last evening, and I need to vent. Some friends and I met there for some dinner and football and the night started off fine. After the Trivia game was over, one of my friends asked to have the sound for the football game turned on. He was notified, in a not so pleasant manner, that there were 3 different sports on, so nobody was getting sound as she did not want to hear anything from the fans of the other sports. Ok, Her bar, Her way, or the highway. So with the information that the sound was not going to be turned on for the game, we proceeded to have dinner. The food was excellent as always. With the realization that we had the TouchTunes Jukebox available, I entered about 20 songs to help get us through the evening. I am a huge fan of classic rock, and all of the songs I played were from that genre'. After about 4 songs played, the Jukebox was shut off, and somebody's private playlist was put on, with only country music. I thought this was unacceptable, as I had paid for the music on the jukebox. While I was cashing out, I questioned Angela (bartender/manager) as to why she had done this as I watched her use the remote to perform this act. Angela got very defensive when I asked her why she had done this. This escalated into a verbal confrontation, and culminated in me being banned from 1916. I have no regrets as to my actions, but I was disappointed that a person that is serving as a manager here obviously had no regard for the patrons on this establishment, and was much more interested in catering to the whims of her personal acquittances, rather than treat all customers with respect. Up until last night, I had always felt that this establishment had treated myself, and my friends, with dignity and respect. I will not miss being treated the way we were treated on this...

Just now leaving due to poor service. Been up there multiple times. No issues. I use to work here and have plenty of love for the place. But I am very disappointed for the male bartender that took care of me and my spouse this evening. We patiently waited to be served. Which took several minutes but they seemed busy so no issue. The male bartender talked to the older gentleman sitting next to us. Served him and completely ignored us. Couldn’t even say “be with you in just a moment” or anything. Strike 1. He finally got to us and got our drink order. Handed my spouse a beer. But then took until my spouse said something (serveral minutes later) to bring me a water. Even though the female bartender was the one making all the other drinks for the bar. Strike 2. Once he handed me my water, he decided to ask if we wanted food. I told him what I wanted. They don’t make it anymore. Well that was fine order something else instead. Would have been nice to know that ahead of time though. Then my spouse started to order and he completely ignored him and walked off in the midst of my spouse talking. Strike 3. He was quite rude and not very good with his customer service. He didn’t even introduce himself so I am unable to directly call him out. The girls are good at customer service, the brinks are good and so is the food. But the male bartender this evening (8/9 at 9pm) was...